There are so many ways to keep the holiday green (and still eat way too much)!

This week on Sierra Club Radio:1) Actor Ed Begley, Jr. talks with us about going green in Hollywood. 2) Kim Teplitzky, Jeremy Pivor, and Lydia Courtright on moving college campuses away from coal. 3) Laurie Mazur on her new book, A Pivotal Moment, about population and the environment.

Hold the Big Polluters Responsible!Did you know that only a handful of sources, including coal-fired power plants, are responsible for more than half of all global-warming pollution in the United States? It's time to hold these mega-polluters responsible for their share of the dirty air.

Connecting with the Land They Served The Sierra Club's work with military families was recognized on Veterans Day when Club President Allison Chin joined First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden at George Washington University for the launch of Mission Serve. (That's Allison just behind Jill Biden.) The initiative will "more closely integrate service to country with service to community" and provide support to the families of veterans and service men and women.

The Club's connection? Our Military Families Outdoors program offers free summer camps for children, weekend retreats for families to reconnect in national-park settings, and adventure wilderness courses to help vets readjust to civilian life.

Let's Build Greener BuildingsCoal and cars are bad enough, but did you know that building operations contribute nearly 40 percent of global-warming emissions and use more than 70 percent of U.S. electricity? That's why "Green Buildings for Cool Cities," a joint project of the Sierra Club's Cool Cities program and the U.S. Green Building Council, is pressing leaders around the country to bring new and retrofitted energy-efficient buildings to their communities.

Get in on the ground floor of this effort -- take part in a national conference call on Thursday, November 19, at 8 p.m. EST. The call will feature Seattle's new mayor, Michael McGinn -- a long-time Sierra Club volunteer with the Cool Cities campaign.

To enter, sign up to follow @sierra_magazine on Twitter. Then copy and re-tweet the following message: Win $1,000 of gear from The North Face! Follow @Sierra_magazine and RT this by Nov. 23 to enter. http://bit.ly/154yVm

On December 15 we'll draw a winner from those who entered, and that lucky tweeter will get $1,000 worth of goods from The North Face. Start tweeting!

Discuss |

Leatherback Turtles Might Lose Their NestsIn 2008, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, then governor of Puerto Rico, protected 3,000 acres of coastline known as the Northeast Ecological Corridor. It’s one of the most important U.S. nesting grounds for the critically endangered leatherback, the world's largest sea turtle, as well as for 50 other rare, threatened, endangered, and native species, like the brown pelican, Puerto Rican boa, and West Indian manatee.

Now the new governor, Luis Fortuño, is canceling the Corridor’s nature-reserve designation to pave the way for large-scale, unsustainable development in the area.

What's Dirtier Than a Dorm Room? The Sierra Student Coalition has already shown the world through videos that coal is 2Dirty4College. Now they want to prove that coal is dirtier than even the nastiest dorm room. Know someone whose room would look better after a tornado hit it?

Thousands Sneak-Peek Coal Country DocumentaryThe devastation of mountaintop-removal coal mining was made all too clear last week when more than 3,000 people attended about 900 house parties held across the country to screen a sneak preview of Coal Country.

Some people, like Mandy McQuade at the Chatelaine B&B in Pennsylvania, held intimate parties in their living rooms, while Sierra Club organizers in Portland, Oregon packed a theater with 150 attendees. In all venues, people were moved to action.

Now you can purchase the Coal Country companion book -- Coal Country: Rising Up Against Mountaintop Removal Mining -- published by Sierra Club Books, and the Coal Country DVD and music CD from our store. You'll get 20 percent off the book if you enter the code COALCOUNTRY on the order form.

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